The Amount of women farmers has tripled in the last three decades.

Women farmers own more than 50 million acres of farmland in the U.S, accounting for 30% of farm operators. The amount of women farmers has tripled in the last three decades and has become the fastest growing segment in agriculture.

The number of women farmers is steadily increasing because a lot of women today want to be involved in organic farming and community-based agriculture. While these tend to be smaller operations, their impact is still significant.

In early American history, women did actually have an impact on the farms. They often did bookkeeping and would tend to the family garden. However, their work was never recorded by the Department of Agriculture, so it appeared that women were practically non-existent in agriculture. This began to change in the 1960s-1980s when it became clear that women were very important to the well-being of the farms.

The amount of farms run by women doubled during the time period of 1978-2005, increasing from 100,000 to 250,000. And the number continues to grow!